An occurrence which seems to be happening at many runways across the United States both commercial and private. No, it is not reindeer taking off and landing but deer being stuck by airplanes. This seems to be an issue happening around the country and I would like to know why?
In 2009 at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport a U.S. Airways flight was landing and shortly after touching down there was a jolt in the plane. Passengers described it as hitting a giant pothole in the middle of the runway. After the fact the pilot came over the intercom and told the passengers that they had hit a small deer. In this situation it did not do any damage to the plane itself but what would happen to a smaller plane.
As one of our own JU Dolphins found out last fall it does a considerable amount of damage to small Cirrus. On his first night flight ever during his flight lessons Sean Carney was landing his Cirrus at Cecil Field. As he landed his was not just a small jolt. Describing the situation Sean said "Typically when you are landing you feel two bumps, the back wheels touching, the front wheels touching and that is it. But on this one I felt three bumps." The third bump was the propeller of the airplane hitting the deer. This plane did not get out as scotch free as the large jet.
This shows the side of the plane after the impact and how much of an effect the deer left. Later that night the National Guard at the airport had to go out and shoot two more deer because they would not leave.
Now as I stated at the beginning, I would like to know why these deer all seem to congregate around airports and a lot of the time the inevitable happens?
Now as I stated at the beginning, I would like to know why these deer all seem to congregate around airports and a lot of the time the inevitable happens?
I think the main reason that deer always congregate around airports is the location. Airports are usually built in outlying areas in the woods because there is usually a lot of area there to build on. So this is a prime location for grazing. unfortunately, the deer get onto the airports looking for food and water, then get scared of the planes noise so they run onto the runway usually when a plane is taking off or landing.
ReplyDeleteAs Shane has said this is pretty much why deer and other wildlife are particularly around airports. If airports are having a deer or other wildlife problem, then what is being done to control this. For example, do these deer just jump the fence, and what security problems does this pose pertaining to the world environment we live in? Also, another experience I found that might discredit what Shane is saying is, while I was in Ft. Lauderdale - Hollywood last year, there were several foxes running across the airfield, and while I worked at the airport this summer, there was also a problem with other wildlife, particularly with turtles and what not, and these both were not in sparsely populated areas, but in the cities themselves. How can that be then?
ReplyDelete-Jason
I think Shane is correct- Airports are usually built a relatively good distance from the "city center" (Especially here in Jacksonville, typically in the heavily wooded areas outlying the city. I honestly don't know why they seem to actually come on to the airport property itself though, other than perhaps the fact that they would prefer the "openness" of the airport grounds rather than the wooded areas, and possibly there is more grass for them to feed on. However, I know for a fact that all airports are guarded by chainlink fences, and I know that the one around Jacksonville International is probably around 10 feet tall! But how do deer jump over a fence that high?? How high can deer actually jump?
ReplyDeleteThe reason deer are actually in the airport area is that most airports have wooded area in the acres of the airport property. It has been the effort of many airports to relocate these deer and the fact that there is so much wooded area makes it difficult if not sometimes impossible to relocate these animals. As everyone had stated, airports are typically on the outskirts of cities where major wooded areas, so finding a deer is not all that uncommon.
ReplyDeleteMason, to show you the capabilities in deer I have found this website on their behavior and how high they can actually jump. I've witnessed deer that cross roads in literally just touch the road 2 times (across 4 lanes sometimes!). They are pretty impressive.
ReplyDeleteLink:
http://www.invisible-deer-fence.com/info/deer_behavior_and_motives_1.htm
Mason,Deer have extremely strong leg muscles and long tendons that allow them to jump high and over large distances. They also have the power of four legs versus our two. If you look at a other animals in the wild kingdom the power behind many creatures are there legs.
ReplyDeleteAll over the country deer and many other wild animals congregate at airports. Besides aircraft there aren't many people on an airports grounds. These animals cause hundreds of accidents each year. That picture doesn't even show half the damage that could be caused or was caused. That aircraft entire engine had to be rebuilt.
ReplyDelete